Global Leaders of Advanced Particle Therapy Gathered at Hitachi’s Users’ Meeting 2018
Tokyo, November 14, 2018 --- Hitachi welcomed leaders from its particle therapy centers around the world to its fourth Users' Meeting held in Tokyo on November 7th and 8th. Members from twenty six world-class particle therapy facilities in the United States, Japan, Asia and Europe, as well as other regions which will have Hitachi's system in the future, joined the meeting to share their experiences with management, engineering teams and fellow users of Hitachi's systems.
Particle therapy is an advanced form of radiation therapy for cancer patients, which offers a less invasive treatments than surgery and with minimal side effects. This allows for even the elderly to undergo treatment with faster rehabilitation. As a result, demand for particle therapy systems are increasing around the world. Since 2001, Hitachi has contracted with leading hospitals in Japan, the United States, Asia, Europe and other regions for its particle therapy systems. Hitachi has integrated Mitsubishi Electric Corporation’s particle therapy system business in June 2018 into its business unit, and continues to partner with the world's most advanced treatment centers where over 52,000 patients have been treated to date with its systems, establishing a proven track record of high reliability.
The Hitachi PBT Users' Meeting has been held since 2015, and is a forum where the world's leading radiation oncologists, medical physicists and other medical professionals gather to share clinical experiences, opinions and requests on current products and future developments. Critical input from the last three Users' Meetings have helped refine new technologies and achieve shorter treatment times. These and other achievements will be used to further strengthen Hitachi’s R&D Roadmap, bringing further clinical benefits to patients.
This year, with the theme of “Closing the Gap” aiming to expand particle therapy adoption to the equivalent level of conventional radiation therapy, participants from 26 facilities, (twice the number of last year due to business integration including users with Mitsubishi Electric), shared details of their facilities followed by a series of discussions regarding advanced techniques such as uncertainties and biological enhancement in particle therapy, and heavy ion beam therapy that had not been discussed so far. They also shared details of their treatment protocols, providing those in attendance valuable clinical perspectives.
Hitachi will continue striving to provide superior solutions as the leader in particle therapy through future Users' Meetings and collaborative activities with our customers. Hitachi hopes to contribute to the medical community by providing solutions truly needed by clinicians and their patients through improving medical quality and efficacy via innovative new healthcare solutions.